Allow Phoenix Racing general manager Marc Reno to coin a new term: This weekend, he says, they’ll be “legitimate-racing” their #09 car. Reno acknowledges that wasn’t the case in the Nextel Cup series’ most recent race at North Carolina Speedway on Feb. 22. Driver Joe Ruttman turned only one lap in the #09 car before NASCAR officials “parked” him because he didn’t have a pit crew. The team took home more than $50,000 for finishing last. “It’s just economics,” Reno admits. “People will race if they can get the money.” Reno says not having anybody in the pits was “a screw-up on our part” but acknowledged the team had no intention of trying to turn more than a few laps. They’ll try to run a competitive race with their Busch Series driver, Johnny Benson, behind the wheel at Las Vegas this weekend. But they’ll pull him off the track if he gets in the way of series regulars. The fact that Ruttman even qualified for the race was emblematic of a rising problem in NASCAR. Even in a slowly recovering economy, most of NASCAR’s high-profile teams have been able to retain primary sponsors and attract associate sponsors. But that hasn’t been the case for a few respectable mid-pack teams that have run out of money and stopped showing up at the racetrack. That has created an opportunity for so-called “field fillers,” part-time teams who see no shame in showing up, staying out of the way and grabbing a small chunk of the race purse in NASCAR’s big-time series. NASCAR vice president of communications Jim Hunter called Ruttman’s run “kind of a sham” and said officials would prevent it from happening in the future. “If we know somebody’s doing that, we’re not going to allow that,” Hunter said. But while NASCAR would prefer fully funded teams to field fillers, the situation has provided a compelling underdog story in driver Carl Long. Long managed to make the race at North Carolina Speedway, only to mangle his car in a crash. In a TV interview as he left the infield hospital, Long mentioned that he might not be able to continue racing. The car was his, and he didn’t have money to fix it. Fans have sent in small donations in to his Web site totaling more than $9,000. That isn’t enough money to fix the car, but Long is getting at least one more chance to race. The Score Motorsports team, owned by veteran driver Hermie Sadler and former NBA player Bryan Stith, are bringing a car and a pit crew to Las Vegas for Long. The car he’ll be driving is a Pontiac the team built last season. Pontiac no longer officially races in NASCAR, but its cars are still legal. “Carl taking that flip at Rockingham has turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him,” Sadler said. “I told him, ‘You’ve got to shine while you can, because a month from now, people will be talking about somebody else.” Reno, meanwhile, objects to the term field filler. “We’re ahead of Michael Waltrip and the 99 car (in owner points) right now. What does that make them?”(USA Today)(3-3-2004)
